With recent problems behind me, my enthusiasm for music has started to return this month. While I haven’t picked up a lot of new (to me) gear, the items I did snag are all very special to me.
Continue reading “New Arrivals: June 2023”First Impressions: Tone City Mandragora Overdrive Pedal
I’ve had a lot of fun with the two Tone City pedals that I recently picked up. So when the opportunity arose to pick up another one at a nice price, hell yeah, why not?
New Arrivals: December 2021
There were two pieces of second hand gear that I really wanted to try this month. Both are in stores some distance away. One is a (tweed!) amp that’s only available for collection, and the other is a guitar that I’ve no experience with (so I’d need to try a couple of other examples first to help me understand whether it’s a good example or not).
Unfortunately, the pandemic is back with a vengeance here on Plague Island, and we decided that it wasn’t worth the risk of infection just for a couple of pieces of guitar gear – no matter how nice they might be.
That left the private sales second hand market, where popular and interesting pieces are currently going for quite high prices. Too many buyers chasing too few items, I guess.
I did manage to pick up something though, and I had a blast with it.
Continue reading “New Arrivals: December 2021”First Impressions: Lovepedal Superlead Distortion Pedal
Just before Christmas, I was able to pick up a Lovepedal Superlead distortion pedal. Is this going to be a great little present to myself? Read on to find out.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Lovepedal Superlead Distortion Pedal”First Impressions: PC30 Lovepedal Englishman Clone Overdrive
Back at the end of August, I bought a (I suspect) one-off clone of the Lovepedal Englishman overdrive pedal, called the PC30. It arrived in early September, and I promptly forgot about it 🙁
What is it like? Here are my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: PC30 Lovepedal Englishman Clone Overdrive”New Arrivals: December 2020
I had a plan for December: keep an eye out for outright bargains or ultra-rare pedals on the second-hand market, and spend more time enjoying what arrived last month.
Then, when writing up my Annual Review blog posts, that all changed. Looking back over the last 12 months made me realise that there was an obvious problem, and I needed to sort it out. So, I have.
I hope you had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year. We filled our house with music, and it’s what gets us through these historic times.
Continue reading “New Arrivals: December 2020”2020 Review: Pedals
Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I’m going to do a rundown of what pedals I’m using, and why.
Previous posts in the series: [2019]
Continue reading “2020 Review: Pedals”First Impressions: NABLA Custom Black Tweed Overdrive Pedal
This arrived all the way back at the start of December, and since then, it’s barely been off my practice pedal board at home. Although that sounds like a really good thing, the reality is a little more complicated than that …
Continue reading “First Impressions: NABLA Custom Black Tweed Overdrive Pedal”First Impressions: Websmufer’s Champ Drive Pedal
Long-time readers might well remember me raving over a pedal I called the Little Pink Wonder (LPW for short) over on my personal Twitter feed. (As far as I know, it doesn’t have an official name). That’s a high-quality clone of a boutique boost pedal, and the clone is made by a local pedal builder and sold directly on eBay UK.
Ever since I bought the LPW, I’ve kept an eye out for his stuff on eBay, and tried to win as many of his pedals as possible. Well, except for the fuzz pedals, because fuzz isn’t my thing, and traditional fuzz pedals don’t go well with the dirty power supply we have here in the Welsh valleys.
The Champ Drive is the latest of his pedals that I picked up. From the name and control layout, I was expecting a Lovepedal Champ clone. How did I get on with it? Read on for my First Impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Websmufer’s Champ Drive Pedal”New Arrivals For July 2020
By my track record, June 2020 was a very quiet month for trying gear. The second-hand market’s been very quiet, and to be honest, my appetite for new (to me) gear has been too.
With music kind-of on the back burner at the start of the month, I went into July without any real plan for the month. Did I get anything at all, and if so, why?
Continue reading “New Arrivals For July 2020”